20 March 2020 | Stilling the Storm

Welcome to the first of a series of weekly reflections that Revs Rosemary and Philip will be publishing whilst we are unable to gather for public worship. Some of the reflections will be about the current pandemic, others will be more general. Look out here for new reflections each Friday. We actively invite you to comment on these reflections and open up discussion.

All of us are living in unforeseen and deeply troubling times, and you are in our hearts and prayers. Who could have known that last Sunday was the last time, for the foreseeable future, that we would be gathering in church to praise God together?

We are in the midst of a ‘perfect storm’. Maybe you begin to feel like the disciples would have felt in the boat with Jesus before he stilled the storm? Why not take a look at the account in Mark chapter 4. Jesus and some of his followers were crossing the Sea of Galilee. Though usually calm, the Sea could be prone to sudden, fearsome and life-threatening storms. The boat was hit by a furious gale, with waves coming over the side and likely to sink it. Understandably, the disciples were beginning to fear for their lives.

That story, which appears in Mark, Matthew and Luke, was probably especially treasured and preserved because it spoke to future followers of Jesus, on sea or land, who found themselves in perilous times. When early Christians were living under persecution, they would have been alert to the ever-present, insidious surveillance exercised by the mighty Roman Empire. They would not have been sure who were their friends and who might be their enemies. They were subject to an unseen menace.

Rembrandt van Rijn ‘Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee’, 1633 – Gardner Museum, Boston, reproduced under Creative Commons licence.

They had to be very careful, but did not succumb to fear, because they put their trust in Jesus, who had already shown that he could still the mightiest storm. The words of Jesus to the wind and sea – ‘Peace! Be still!’ – were surely also lovingly intended for the disciples. As 1 John 4:18 puts it: ‘There is no fear in love… perfect love casts out fear’.

It would be easy for us to be dominated by fear in the current situation, but fear can paralyse and wear us down. It’s very important to be alert, but not to be over-anxious. Perhaps we need to ration the time we spend thinking about the virus and its implications. If we are constantly lapping up the latest news, we may lose any sense of peace and calm.

Sadly, for some people, the virus is the first thing they think about when they wake up. Why not, instead, memorise the verse of a hymn and say or sing that to ourselves as we get up or even as we wash our hands regularly throughout the day? The first verse of ‘Love Divine’ would do well:

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heav'n to earth come down:
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown:
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation,
enter ev'ry trembling heart.

We pray that ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 4:7).